Perrow—The Last Will and Testament in Literature. 711 
Again in the poem called Praise of Peace (1399) Gower tells 
ns: 
And er Crist wente out of this erthe hiere, 
And stigh to hevene, he made his testament, 
Wher he bequath to his diciples there 
And yaf his pes, which is the foundement 
Of charite, withouten whos assent 
The worldes pes mai nevere wel be tried, 
Ne Jove kept, ne lawe justified.” 1 
1 Again in the Confessio Amantis (1390), Gower tells us that: 
. . . Crist him self hath bode pes 
And set it in his testament.” 2 
Hoccleve in the Tale of Jonathan (c. 1421) gives expression 
to somewhat the same idea. 3 He interprets a story taken from 
the Gesta Romanorum as representing the Lord making his will 
and leaving bequests of Faith, the Holy Spirit, and Perfect 
Charity. 4 
The same conception appears in The Pilgrimage of Perfec¬ 
tion where we hear of the “Testament of Peace . . 
given and bequest to thy disciples.” 5 
What influence the Testament in the Pelerinage may have 
exerted on the literatures of France and England during the 
fourteenth century I am unable to say. Perhaps very little 
direct influence was exerted. But it is not impossible that it 
may have suggested to literary men the effectiveness of intro¬ 
ducing into their works a testament wherever opportunity of¬ 
fered. In the latter part of the fourteenth century there seems 
to have been such a practice among the writers in England. 
In the Vision concerning Piers Plowman, (written about 
1362), Piers is made to make his testament. 6 The occasion is 
his setting out on his pilgrimage. 7 He bequeaths his isoul to 
1 Ibid., English Works, II, 481. 
2 Prologue, lines 244-5. 
sFurnival, (E. E. T. S.) p. 215. 
4 It will alsoi be remembered in this connection that Swift’s Tale of 
a. Tub is based on the conception of the Bible as a will. 
5 Edition of 1526. Printed by W. de W. in 1531. 
c W. W. Skeat, The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, 
Oxford, 1886, I, 201. 
7 The making of one’s will before setting out on a journey was not 
an infrequent practice in the Middle Ages. Louis IX of France was 
careful to make his will before setting out for a crusade (Peignot, II, 
360) and it will be remembered that Villon wrote his Petit Testament 
on the occasion of his leaving Paris for Aquitaine. 
